Classic Music Review: Love Deluxe by Sade

While I strive to be objective in my reviews and avoid over-personalizing the interpretation of the poetry in the lyrics, there are times when that is simply impossible.

As people living in a world where personal identity is a fragile thing, many of us turn to music to validate who we think we are, the person we would like to become or who “the real person” is inside. Some people use music to confirm their status as intellectuals (jazz, classical and Radiohead fans are notorious for this); some use music to confirm their status as rebels against dull conformity (early rockers, punks, glam rockers); still others look for one group or artist to support to enable them to raise their status by being “different.”

We also use music and other art forms to increase our understanding of ourselves and the world around us. We can all name songs that expressed the thing we were feeling inside that we could never quite express, and when that happens, we deeply appreciate the artist who gave us that gift. Sometimes what we hear in the music or read in the poetry has a different meaning than what the artist had intended. That does not affect our appreciation of the artist, nor should it. For reasons we may not find in the text, the artist has touched something inside us and triggered a chain reaction of thought and emotion that is entirely personal and exquisitely liberating.

Once that happens, the meaning is permanently connected in our minds to the artist who was the catalyst behind the discovery of that meaning, and we attach a certain loyalty to that artist. In short, we identify with our artists with a passion that sometimes defies reason or explanation. This isn’t a bad thing as long as “fan” doesn’t become “fanatic” and the artist does not become the object of worship.

I feel very thankful that I have some kind of gene that refuses to see artists as superior human beings, but I can certainly relate to the intensity a great artist can arouse in the soul. There are certain songs that have expressed the person I wanted to be; in essence, the artist has provided me with a role model. Prince gave me Darling Nikki and Leonard Cohen gave me Suzanne to help me clarify my ideal of womanhood. However, they were not the role models themselves: they created characters I admired. The artist closest to a role model for me is Sade Adu, because she encapsulates many of the qualities that describe the person I would like to become.

She’s sensual. She’s not afraid to express love with passionate intensity and emotional honesty. She has presence, beauty and class. She has deep social consciousness and awareness of the world around her. She’s fucking hot!

My identification with Love Deluxe is predominantly personal and the meaning I attach to several of the songs is clearly independent of either Sade’s intent or the intent of her songwriting collaborators. In Love Deluxe, what I hear expressed is the deep sense of devotion that is at the heart of the kind of sexual philosophy that I practice, which, as my readers know, is what is referred to as sadomasochism.

BDSM is greatly misunderstood by the general public and even by many who claim to be practitioners, due to several distortions of its practice. The first comes from “cheap thrill” kink popularized in movies like 9 ½ Weeks and in books like Fifty Shades of Grey. The second source of misinformation arises from the fact that like other institutions in our society, males tend to dominate, and male domination literature is full of the misogyny that places the male at the center of the universe and leads to the exploitation of women with low self-esteem. The third source of misunderstanding comes from the women who figured out they could make a comfortable living playing to male fantasies of humiliation and take on the role of dominatrix to exploit people with deep psychological problems.

In my experience, BDSM is something very different. It is a form of unconditional love. It works at the deepest level of trust. It is a shared experience that requires total openness and honesty on every level so that there is no separation between the parties involved. This elimination of boundaries is critical because many of the practices of BDSM involve physical, psychological and emotional risk. Lovers who choose this path—and it must be deliberately and consciously chosen—recognize that dominance and submission are two forms of power, like yin and yang, equal in every way: each equally cherishes the body and soul of the other. The most common form of BDSM relationship (Mistress/slave, top/bottom, dominant/submissive, whatever you prefer) demands that both parties be completely devoted to one another and to helping each other realize their fullest potential as well as their deepest fantasies. When Sade sings “No Ordinary Love” to open the album, she expresses that kind of devotion: a devotion that requires no return but has no doubt it will be returned:

I gave you all the love I got.I gave you more than I could give: I gave you loveI gave you all that I have inside,And you took my love: you took my love.

Love Deluxe isn’t only about sexual forms of love, but about love for all human beings, regardless of station and especially those who are in most need of love. The next song, “Feel No Pain,” is a powerful, moving and insightful song about the personal humiliation and social degradation caused by long-term unemployment. Sade demands we take responsibility for helping people make a contribution to society, urging us, “Don’t let them stay home and listen to the blues.” Love them! Help them!

Sade returns to the subject of romantic devotion in “I Couldn’t Love You More,” expressing the sexual aspect of love honestly and directly: “I wouldn’t want to lay or ever love another.” The juxtaposition of such a beautiful love song with a song about a war criminal (“Like a Tattoo”) is both stunning and perceptive: we can’t deny the existence of evil in our world, but we also can’t deny the need to manifest the love and desire we feel inside. The genius of Love Deluxe owes a great deal to this woman who refuses to close her eyes to reality or deny herself the pleasure of romantic connection.

Sade is not only the name of the singer, it’s the name of the band as well, and what an outstanding group of professionals they are! The arrangements combine clarity with sensuousness, melding beautifully with the unique timbre of Sade’s voice. The song that best demonstrates the sensitivity of the arrangements and the professionalism of the musicians is “Kiss of Life,” another romantic masterpiece. Listen to the rich combination of Paul Denman on bass and Andrew Hale on piano as it is tempered by a long, bent note from Stuart Matthewman on the sax right before Sade begins her vocal. Then pay attention to the band (difficult to do when Sade is at the microphone!) as they support her emotional expression with subtle touches like soft pizzicato guitar to express her trembling joy. Most importantly, they never interfere with or overtake her vocal; even she turns her voice into an instrument in a short back-and-forth with the sax, balance is preserved.

“Kiss of Life” is rightfully paired with the equally sensuous “Cherish the Day.” The first song deals with of the moment of rebirth through love; the second with the power of commitment expressed as the desire to possess (“If you were mine, I wouldn’t want to go to heaven”) and the desire to be possessed (“You’re ruling the way I move”). Sade’s voice in “Kiss of Life” has tinges of the delight of a young girl in love; her voice on “Cherish the Day” is the voice of a woman driven by passion.

But even the power of love cannot blind us to the cruel reality of billions of people around the globe. “Pearls” expresses a level of empathy that is very difficult for the average person to achieve, in part because the average person would like to forget that places like war-torn Somalia even exist:

There is a woman in SomaliaScraping for pearls on the roadsideThere’s a force stronger than natureKeeps her will aliveThis is how she’s dyingShe’s dyin’ to surviveDon’t know what she’s made ofI would like to be that brave

The string arrangement that opens “Pearls” always causes my tears to rise, as does the line “She lives in a world she didn’t choose” in the last verse.

“Bullet Proof Soul” deals with the risks of love: that the person you’re falling in love with is consumed with him or herself and views love as a power game. The value in the experience for the disappointed lover lies in the strengthening of the identity: “I came in like a lamb but I intend to leave like a lion.” Love Deluxe ends with the dreamy instrumental, “Mermaid,” allowing us a moment of reflection on the power of the music and the message that came before.

Love Deluxe will always be one of my favorite records in part because of its broad view of the human condition, the sensuous music and the character of the lead performer. More than that, it touched my soul and expressed emotions and beliefs that I’d never quite been able to articulate, and for that I am deeply grateful to Sade Adu. If you’d like to learn more about her, Tola Osiletu wrote a beautiful piece on this rather reclusive woman that I found very helpful in writing this review.

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7 responses

i come to your blog via rebop kwaku bash (i’m ghanaian and intrigued by the idea of west africans and their connection to psychedelic rock – cf ofege). i came to rebop via steve winwood who i heard singing dear mr fantasy on a tv program this weekend. I am a huge fan of psychedelic rock but am just discovering the fact. i liked your blog as soon as i started reading it (the interest in sex and the erudition are a hot combination). then i see your reference to sade and i like you even more (the eclectism and the individuality) then i saw the photo of the black man behind sade in the video for feel no pain and i recognised him as the sexiest man i have ever seen – i first remarked him in the video to ‘the sweetest taboo’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWy3X7f4MyY). the two of them together are pure class. anyway, just to say rock on – you say you want to be like sade – you are well on your way. rock on.

Thank you! I love how you’re intrigued by musical connections across cultures, which is one of my passions, too. That guy with Sade was seriously hot, too! As I’ve written before, brains and sexuality are a powerful combination and one does not cancel out the other! Please keep reading and giving me your insights.